Last night pzoet and I chatted on the phone for about an hour about Children's programming at ECT (and other stuff). We came up with the idea of some sort of parent group. Not only will parents be able to bounce ideas off of each other but it would probably be a good forum for ECT organizers to join so they can keep current with ideas.

I suspect that it will be quiet for awhile but pick up pace closer and closer to full ECT planning time. The membership is open to anyone. Just another yahoo group for you to stick on your list.

Post message: ect_parent_group@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: ect_parent_group-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ect_parent_group/

Looking forward to working with all of you. I will send an invite to those I know don't log on to LJ very often. :)

This morning was crazy. Meghan and I had to get our TB tests and she had to get a physical. We had the world's slowest elderly doctor (though he was so incredibly nice) and that threw us off our schedule making us about 20 minutes late for our dental appointments. Meg and Maddie are doing well. The dentist saw the beginning of wigglies in Maddie's mouth (YAY!). Meghan's teeth are strong, white as shit and healthy. I do really love having kids that enjoy going to the dentist. I can't imagine having to drag them there kicking and screaming.

My three remaining wisdom teeth are stable. One of them came in years ago and if I had been able to get back there and floss I would have been able to keep it. Alas, the space was too small and it started to decalcify the tooth next to it. Out it came. My remaining wisdom teeth are still there. None of them would be impacted if they came in. There's plenty of room, though they show no signs of movement. The dentist said I am one of the vast, VAST minority of people that at my age have their wisdom teeth still in their gums and having zero issues. Now everyone knows my "smart" secret. ;)

I've got a load of laundry to fold from ECT. I'm going to straighten up and then take a nap. I have an ethics class tonight and my main essay is about simple pleasures that make life more spiritual and meaningful...sort of like how it feels to produce your own food, beekeeping, sewing, etc.

OK. Off to work/sleep. I've worked it out. School reading is going to be a snap. I have a good amount of time for pleasure reading. There is a book on Jewish tales of the supernatural to dig into. It has the "Corpse Bride" story in it (it's called The Finger).

Woo Hoo! This is so exciting for me. Seriously. I entered two of my sewing projects. I entered the new and improved Yule penguin dress. I made it last October so it qualifies for the "made in the last year" clause. I'm also entering one of my patchwork lady's skirts. I haven't put it together but entries aren't due til the 27th of August.

I persuaded my mother to put in one of the Christening gowns she made recently. She does them for family members and such. She was apprehensive but I told her I actually think her gown could get Best of Show...easily. Confidence she lacks. Enter she did. Force her I had to. Her work is freakin' incredible. Fine hand stitching, French seams, silk, lace, etc...

Greg entered his mead. Due to the way the categories were arranged, he could enter two. He is entering a Sac Mead under Honey and he's entering his Cyser under Sweet: Fruit. He listed a bunch of questions for me to ask when I got there (how many bottles of each go in, labels or not, etc...). His final question: "Can I just pick up my blue ribbon now or do we have to go through the formality of judging.". Confidence he has. Hel, his mead was judged best by Heathens. The normals should be blown away...especially since we saw the "Mead" entries last year. I won't get cocky, though. There could always be really good entries.

This is going to be so fun!

After 17 years of long, uncut hair, Meghan chopped it off! She'll be graduating in a little more than a month and it seems a good time for a fresh start. It looks beautiful. :) The first few days she was having trouble styling it. She's never had hair shorter than her shoulders. She's gotten the hang of it. This was one the day it was done.

Today was garden day. The whole fambly pitched in. We had to extend the garden about four feet to accommodate the cukes. Meghan shoveled out half the sod. Maddie...well Maddie dug holes...not necessarily where we would plant anything but Maddie dug holes. Greg tilled in the compost and the potting soil with his brand spanking new tiller/weed whacker/brush cutter/chainsaw/slicer/dicer/julienne/sham wow garden tool. And I, your lovely hostess, planted the veggies and flowers. We put a nice trellis in that we recycled from the Gazebo de los Muertos. I have to make the grid with string but at least it's in the ground and ready to go.

The bell peppers were planted and I used the tip from the crazy pepper guy across the street. He insisted that matchsticks in the ground near the peppers would make them grow. I am not one to argue since he has so many every year he doesn't know what to do with them. No other crops. Just peppers.

We got four tomato plants. Three beefsteak and a Roma. They are caged and ready. The beans and the peas are so far so good. Not dead yet. That's a plus. I planted all the flowers in the front porch box. Hopefully they'll still be alive for blot on Saturday. Make people think I can actually grow flowers.

Greg put the timber garden borders in as well. Looks purty. At some point I'll have to get the fencing to keep the lil critters out. Not today. I'm tired. I'm sunburned (though not so bad since I got a crazy "Southern Lady" straw hat). I'm hungry. I have a tiny personal wet bottom pie waiting in the kitchen for me. It's tiny but it's mine! Mwahahahahahahahaha!!!

( little ol' picture of the lil ol' garden )

So. There it is. I really need to write my paper. Seriously. Maybe tonight...

Oh yeah, and I have to write up this weekend and put up the pics here and on facebook. Maybe tonight...

Stand aware anti-Disney people! This post is going to be stuffed to the brim with princesses, pirates, big mice and all other Disney goodness. I love Disney so you'll be subjected to Walt love.

OK, The magic of Disney is alive and well.

We had to get up at 4:15 AM to get our 6:30 flight to Orlando. We all held up quite well. We arrived at the park around 11 AM. By noon we were in The Magic Kingdom. First stop? Well Duh. Pirates of the Caribbean! After we went through Maddie told us that she now wanted to go to sleep. That was the extent of her interest in Disney. hehe Well, we didn't let her go to sleep. On our way out we saw a scurvy pirate setting up a rope barrier. Yes, we sat down. Lo and behold...Captain Jack Sparrow happened on the scene (and let me tell you, the actor who played him was SPOT on!). Maddie was a bit taken aback by actually seeing him in person. She was shy and didn't want to go up to become a pirate. However, we went back to another showing and she jumped right in, swore allegiance to Sparrow and got herself an apprentice pirate certificate from Saucy Jack himself!

In Disney all your dreams come true! We went to breakfast in the restaurant and lo and behold...guess who would sit just ONE table over from the biggest Philadelphia Eagles fan you've ever met? Why that would be Vince Papale. We didn't bother him though I'm sure he knew WE knew who he was because I couldn't stop bouncing up and down. heh.

EDIT: I sent an email to Mr. Papale telling him we saw him and really wanted to say hi. He said we should have. DAMN you celebrities!!! Why can't you come equip with big signs on your back that say, "Sure! Ask me for my autograph!" or "Stay the HEL away from me!!"

We sent Maddie to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique where she was made up and pampered like a princess. She got to choose a princess outfit (she chose Ariel). Then they did her hair, nails and make-up. After it was all done she got a professional photo shoot. It was awesome.

Meghan's dreams came true as well. We last visited Disney 12 years ago. Just like Maddie now, Meghan was into dinosaurs. She was exactly one half inch shorter than the required height level to get on the Dinosaurs! ride. She has been pissed off about it for 12 years. She made the height requirement this time. :) She was also pissed 12 years ago because her very favorite princess was not yet a park feature; Pocohontas. Therefore she never got to see her. She's a regular now. Meghan finally got her picture.

The food there was phenomenal (well, except the park food which was no better than a fair). We ate at several of the featured restaurants. At the very first restaurant we mentioned Greg's food allergies. Apparently the info was put into the park passes because every time we went to eat the chef was required to come out and tell Greg all about every possible allergen in every possible entre. He got pretty pissed in the end and finally told one of the wait staff that he was a big boy and knew what kinds of foods to avoid.

We spent a few days in Epcot. Greg and I ditched the kids one afternoon and went into Norway. I was surprised! They had some artifacts there and a nice little informational display. We went on a ride called the Maelstrom. The boats had the same head Fuzzy carved for the longship at FSG. Once on the ride were were greeted with a huge picture of Odin with his eye illuminated. The ride took you through a little bit of the history of the Northmen and Norway. We then sat for a nice film about modern Norway. We got nice gifties for Thunderer and Erik. Greg also got a statue of Thor made in Norway and a GORGEOUS Thor's Hammer shaped wine bottle opener.

China rocked as well. Maddie loves Mulan. We bought her a little Chinese outfit and after watching the Chinese acrobats and the Kung Fu demonstration she finally got to meet Mulan and Mushu. She has such a great time in China. England was nice but unfortunately we didn't get there in time to see Mary Poppins. We didn't see Alice there but did at Maddie's Mad Tea Party.

We got reservations to send Maddie to The Mad Tea Party. It was awesome, or so I am to understand. Parents could not attend. The kids were taken into a room that had a long tea table that was decorated exactly like the one I did for her party! I sat Maddie on the corner because the head and foot of the table were for the Mad Hatter and Alice. Maddie got to sit next to Alice. They ate lunch, played games and had photos taken. She had a blast.

Shopping was fabulous. We found even possible Jack Skellington need there. The kids are totally decked out in gear that'll never be found up here. As Jill and Tim have a brand new painted kitchen we decided to get them a small something from the Jack shop. :)

My brain is fried. I'm sure more things will come out as the days go by, but for the most part those are the highlights.

Oh, you want to see pictures you say? But of course! Again, if you've never used flickr, click slideshow and then "show info" for the captions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12225740@N03/sets/72157614065093473/

I'd like to share one of Maddie's school songs.

Thanksgiving Day is coming
And Mr. Turkey said,
"Be very very careful
Or I might loose my head!"

(make a neck slicing gesture)

The pumpkin saw the turkey
The pumpkin said, "OH MY!"
They'll mix me up with sugar and spice
And I'll be a pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today was Maddie's Mad Tea Party. Miss E. joined us early in the day so she could attend the party. Mom and dad were meeting with some friends so we had the pleasure of hosting her for the day. All the girls arrived on time and the melee ensued. Greg, Meg, Maddie and I all dressed as characters. I think by the end of the day the girls were filled with so much sugar they were twitching when they left. I told the parents to refrain from juice or fruit for dinner. It might have sent them into a coma. They made their own cupcakes and sundaes and painted tea trays. They had tea, stacked sugar cubes, played hot "cheshire cat," and ate tarts. They all left full of sugar with goodie bags, their tea cups and saucers and a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. All in all an awesome party.

Now...if I could only get the song Painting the Roses Red out of my head I'd be getting somewhere.

( Down the Rabbit Hole )

The rest of the evening was spent with the older crew. They got to avoid the Mad Tea Party. Let me tell you, two hours between two parties just isn't enough. Period. Four might have been better.

I need to go to bed now.

I have posted pictures in a long time. I'll group them together.

Let me start with one above the cut. I got my engagement ring back. We were going to do the "two hand" formal photo since Greg's ring is all sparkly with goodness but I can't figure out when we'll do it. Sooooo.....here's mine!! That's my original diamond cleaned and put in a new setting. The diamond is "embraced" by a separate ring that has the two marquis cut sapphires and two small round cut diamonds. The two rings are soldered together to form one band. The band under is my newly rodiumed and polished wedding band. Greg's band was rodiumed and polished as well. They are quite spiffy. I'm simply in love. I didn't want to "upgrade" my diamond which is what is usually done after so many anniversaries. I wanted to keep the original one and enhance it some way.



Under the cut you'll see:

Vingolf's Odin Blot

Awesome carved pumpkins from Greg's work

Random very adorable cat pictures (which incidentally I need good LOL captions from all of you)

Maddie's family dinner birthday

Some "parent watch day" pictures from dance class.

( Random stuff pictures )

It was quick and easy. Togas are pretty simple to wear. I'm not really happy with the quality of these pictures, actually. When you go smaller they pixilate. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Also, the individual shots of Maddie are not on the disk. Not happy. No sir, not happy at all. I have a call in tomorrow. Hopefully they still have proofs or I'll be pissed.

Anyway, please click on each picture if you want to see the close up.

(  I begin to sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair...I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea...Eris whose wrath is relentless, she is the sister and companion of murderous Ares...Now the gods at the side of Zeus were sitting in council over the golden floor, and among them the goddess Hebe (Youth) poured them nectar as wine )

1. I found the three footed bunny that was around earlier this spring. He's still hopping around and has gotten very nimble despite not having a back leg. We've named him "Lucky." (although I wonder how lucky he is considering he only has three rabbit's feet).

2. I get to do my art research paper on John William Waterhouse's interpretation of Greek Mythology. I get to examine:: Apollo and Daphne (1908), Penelope and her Suitors (1912), Echo and Narcissus (1903), and Jason and Medea (1907).

3. Maddie had her first dance recital rehersal. I was class mom (again). I was class mom for Meghan for about 7 years. Maddie's class is so well behaved. No problems or stress. I like it that way.

4. The inlaws are coming in tomorrow. I have to clean my house.

5. I hate allergy attacks.

6. There haven't been any "gray alerts" lately. The evil squirrels from the Christian Hell slide off the awning so they've had to settle for eating what the birds drop down from the feeders. HA!

7. I have SPROUTS!!!! Three beans and one pea. The strawberries, tomatoes, cucumber, and one of two pepper plants are still alive.

That seems like it. Got a new book called Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. It's about a carnival freekshow family. I can't really describe it other than to say asarotte, eretik and isadis would love it.

This was probably one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Greg's job interview went really well. It set the tone. Greg was in a good mood. He hasn't really been in such a high state in a long time. It's good it could filter down to us. We went to the Farmer's Market on Friday as was mentioned in earlier posts. We ate dinner at The Ritz (our local vintage greasy spoon) and came home to a nice quiet evening. I can't think of the last time I felt so utterly content. Greg might not get the job (nothing is ever certain until he gets the call) but the effect a good interview had on our morale was staggering. Saturday was the aquisition of the famed sewing cabinet highlighted in previous posts. Squee again.

Sunday was The Iron Pigs game day. Let me start by giving a big smootch to Jay for getting everyone tickets. You rock and I approve of you (LOL!) Aside from me, greenmanrn and our kidletts, slate1198 and her man Jay, jinglebellz61, llwyon and Lizzie... thunderer, autumnleaf77 and their kidletts all went to the game. It was warm and aside from a bit of bright sunlight for a few hours, we had a blast. We had a flying foul ball cruise into our section and I freaked out (and this moments after Greg and Jon were discussing the fact that we were in prime foul ball territory). Erik and Maddie had fun with cotton candy, hot dogs, and baseball caps. Kiara's adventures included "The toddler and the 2000 bathroom runs." The Pigs lost but not by much (one run) and most of us stayed for the fireworks. These were Maddie's first and she loved them. I mentioned that I felt like a real honest to gods American. Memorial Day weekend eating popcorn, peanuts and dogs sitting outside at a ball game with friends and loved ones. It doesn't get much better than that.

( Pictures and two videos )

Due to inclement weather and the whole Pope "no celebrating" silliness, Allentown had it's St. Paddy's Day parade today. It was a nice crisp day but not too cold. They changed the parade route this year so it was only a few blocks from us. It was a good change and I hope they keep it that way. It used to go downtown and with all the riff raff, it was unpleasant. The numbers dwindled over the years because I think people didn't want to go downtown and possibly get popped by a gang banger. They used to have to put a cop on every corner. That's sad. There was a really good turnout this year. Better than it's been for awhile.

Anyway, it was good this year. Several fun things...

When I go, remind Greg that this is the way I want to be sent off...

http://horsedrawnfunerals.com/

Yes boys and girls, the glass hearse was in the parade complete with horses and coachmen in 19th century garb (albeit not historically accurate but close enough).

Sitting right across the street from the bar and seeing all the drunken Irishmen emerge (wait, sorry...I didn't mean to be redundant).

Watching the Irish club's color guard come down the street holding all the flags up high and the drink cups down low where the officials couldn't see them. Greg inquired as to the content of said cups and they proudly said, "Nothin' but Mountain Dew, my friend! We only drink soda!

All the marching bands always have banners announcing who they were. This year, after the Central Catholic High School band the Boyer Band renamed themselves: The Italian Marching Band. Hehehehe.

Six bagpipe marching bands. Yes, SIX! Whoop! And somehow they all managed to evade the stupid P.C. Kneejerk reaction anti-weapons stupidity. Every single one of them was properly dressed...boot knife and all! Whoop!

Soft pretzels, crappy hot dogs, Rita's Italian Ice (hey...it's those Italians again muscling in on the St. Paddy's Day parade!!!), and candy galore. It was a good afternoon.

This is going to be a very pathetic update if I do say so myself. With the exception of Meghan, the whole fambly is sick. Maddie started it. I think whatever she already had brewing was aggrevated by playing outside on Saturday at the blot. Her nose was a runny mess the next morning. Then Greg caught it. He's miserable and wishes he wasn't in the field so he could call off. Unfortunately he's on a survey and can't call off unless he passes out right there during entrance conference. And then they might just put smelling salts under his nose and tell him to get on with it. :( I feel like crap too but not as bad as they do. Got sleep in 15 minute increments last night. Between Greg's sickness and having to wipe Mads' nose all night I'm dragging today.

In totally unrelated news, I watched the new American Gladiators Sunday and Monday night. Still freakin' hokey! Still freakin' fun! Yes. I'm an AG junkie. The new gladiators are a mixed bunch. Some are awesome (like Crush and Venom...really HOT chicks) and some are downright ridiculous (Helga? Wolf and his ridiculous howling). I can't believe I wrote a whole paragraph on AG. Sorry for that.

Ordered next semester's books. They are on their way here. Thank the gods for Student Loans. $400 freakin' dollars for three subjects! I had to drop a class because after the fourth class was paid for that left a grand total of $125 for over $550 in books. It's alright. I don't need Philosophy to matriculate. I'll probably need it at some point, but I can just take it as a summer course once I'm in Cedar Crest. Besides, one of my two weaknesss is Philosophy. I just have a block with them. I'm not saying I can't overcome the block (the prof is one of the best in the area in regard to Philosophy and I managed an A in Beginner Algera) but I just don't want to deal with both right now. I'll have enough trouble with Intermediate Algebra. Let's just concentrate on one ball buster at a time, shall we?

Well, there it is. I'm going to clean the bedroom and try to remove some cat allergens so Greg can get a decent night's sleep. The bedroom is a wreck. Then laundry to fold. Mountains of laundry to fold. If I'm lucky I can get some reading done once the baby goes for nap.

It's been very busy lately. Let me remember in reverse order. Today I registered for Spring and Summer. Spring is Advanced Composition (Yah!), Intro to Philosophy (meh.), Intermediate Algebra (ick.) and Speech (stupid requirement). For Summer I registered for Criminology (working in high school? I should take it) and British Lit I (just cuz). As of the end of Fall Semester next year (I'll have to take Biology and Yoga) I. AM. DONE. I'll apply for graduation, get my A.A. in Education, do one cleanup semester (taking one additional math and one additional science) and I'm off to Cedar Crest! Whoop!

Things are going well in my courses. They're almost done. 3 more quizzes in Abnormal Psych, couple of chapters in Algebra, a few quizzes in Child Development, and one final test in Cultural Anthropology. Easy sailing from here on in (well, not so sure in algebra but it should be OK).

Yesterday was house "repair and maintanence" day from hel! Greg repaired the hole in Meg's wall. Sheet rock is NOT the easiest thing to work with no matter what the home shows say! We had to replace the dimmer switch in Meg's room so when we figured out which circuit breaker it was, he shut it off and did the job. She keeps using the dimmer to run the ceiling fan and that's going to burn out the motor. He mowed the lawn for the final time and let the gas run out of the lawn mower. He disassembled our old coffin (he's going to make a new and better one). Finally, before sitting down with a beer to watch football, he disassembled the roof piece to the gazebo so we don't have another "gazebo de los muertos" next time we get snow. It was a busy day for him.

I rebraced the shelving units. I was loading them heavy and I wanted to make sure the brackets had a bit of support. I hid the braces pretty well and painted them match the wall and trip colors as needed. They blend in pretty well. The paint color was matched from my previous can so it's a bit off. Not tremendously but I noticed it. Bah. I rearranged the altar a bit. Greg says it's the opposite of what it was and still the same. Dork. It is opposite but there are a lot of different things and different placements.

I rearranged the furniture. One less thing I have to do before Yule. It's all ready to go as soon as we get a tree. Greg's going to put the icicle lights up (no, we don't turn them on til after Thanksgiving) and I've got to sort through the Yule storage boxes.

The EAGLES WON! Whoop! It's the first divisonal game we've won all year. It was a little sloppy but a win is a win.

Saturday we went up to a Fall Frolic planning meeting in Effort, PA. Somehow I volunteered to run the Red Tent. LOL! Well, I think the rumor that I'm a closet Jew has gotten out. I'll also do a workshop and work First Aid with Greg. I'm CPR certified and First Aide certified so it's all good. Before the meeting we stopped to put a downpayment on a radial honey extractor. Some old guy is getting out of the business. We got there and it was Ed Gein reincarnated. I'm NOT shitting you. Looked like him, had the hat, spoke the same way. Greg went inside this HUGE 1700's farmhouse and said it was dusty, dirty, cobwebs on everything, old...he said he wouldn't have been surprised to see some 50 year old woman hanging by a hook having been field dressed. F'n creepy.

Uh, besides Maddie's bilateral ear infection I think that's it. Under the cut, ladies and gentlemen is why it's called a Red Oak. I love my tree.

( gorgeous foliage )

What can I say? It was a freakin' awesome party! Everyone who came had fantastic costumes. The contest was really close (well, exept for the "adult male" catagory...see pictures to understand). Everyone helped with wine and food and the spread was awesome. The food was delicious. I'm pretty sure the kids (both big and small) had a blast. The pinata was a hit (at least for some...quite a few missed completely!) The high point of the night was eretik who showed off her skill for her first public firespinning performance. As I told her, when she was done there wasn't a man there (married or single) that hadn't seriously considered trying to take her home with them! HA! She was so worried and nervous but it was the most awesome thing. The neighbor teenaged geeks were making Indian hooting sounds when the drumming started...that is until eretik started the show. Then they were quite quiet as they sat on their porch and watched. Hehe. Included for your entertainment is a small video of the show. The mead and wine flowed freely and the last guests left well after 3AM. The weather finally cooperated this year! Seven years of parties and it's always raining, freezing, and/or windy as hel. This year no wind, no rain and it was about 55 degrees all night. The fire was toasty and the friends were warm. Thanks to everyone for making this year another sucess!

( 23 PICTURES OF THE MADNESS and a VIDEO )

Today is international "Talk Like a Pirate" Day!! Yeah!....uh, I mean Aaarrrrgghh!

Both me scurvy wenches were properly attired today and we spent the morn singing ye ol' pirate songs like "A Pirate's Life for Me" and "What do you do With a Scurvy Pirate?"

Methinks ye ol' preschool teacher must think me matey's are cracked!

So school is going OK. I've had to back off the algebra a little because I've been disproportionately alloting time to that class while ignorning the others. Spent last night reading the ultra boring chapter in Cultural Anthropology on our similarities and differences with apes (yawn).

Our Child Development prof has disappeared. She told us the first week that she was "busy" with a research project. I figured that meant she'd be in and out of the discussion boards here and there. She hasn't posted a response to anyone's posts nor directed us here or there since school started. She's supposed to be helping me narrow down my Honor's paper but has yet to respond to my emails asking for help. Looks like someone is going to have a little discussion (anonymously of course) on the phone with the head of the Psych department...

Have been having trouble finding a book to read lately. The Red Tent sort of killed me. This happens occassionally. I read a book that is so freakin' good that I need some time to get back to normal and get interested in something else. I was searching for some documents downstairs and found my mother's beat up copy of The Godfather. Yes, sports fans, I have never actually read this book. fuzzy1313's work video has inspired me. Oh, and by the way fuzzy1313 I also found my copy of the Godfather Epic box set. It's VHS (do you still have a player?). I looked it up on amazon and such to see if a DVD was ever made and not only was a DVD never made, there are no copies of this box set available...anywhere. You are most welcome to borrow it if you want (hehe). I have never seen The Godfather or The Godfather II in their regular format. This is actually the only version I've ever seen. Mom owned the seperate movies but I never cared to see them. I remember seeing bits and pieces when she played them. Then I actually was forced to sit down and watch it and this was the version I saw. For the longest time I had no idea they were even two seperate movies (assuming the bits and pieces I saw were just parts of this version). I thought it was one big one.

EDIT: Upon further research, I've found another complete epic. It's The Godfather I, II, and III in chronological order (my copy is only I and II). It's located here: http://tinyurl.com/2aonw3 and it is available.

There was something important that I wanted to tell eretik but I can't think of what it is. Maybe I'll remember. Damn, doncha hate that?

EDIT: I remembered. I was cutting out the pictures of Kell and Maddie saw them. She got excited and said, "Oh! That's Kell! He's my best doggie!" hehe I thought it was too cute not to pass along. I guess it wasn't really that important...

Figured out the problem with the damned computer and printer. Seems someone fucked up my network settings and set the non-networked printer as the default. Problem fixed. Printer works.

The house has been somewhat burglar-proofed. We got a great sheer door curtain. It's a gorgeous sage green. It still lets light in but when the house is dark, you can't see through the front door. I put the "Beware of Dog" sign in the back door and front window. Each sign is lovingly enhanced with a borrowed picture of Kell (thanks eretik). We did have to find a picture where he wasn't snuggling with stuffed animals or kitties (yeah, those would really deter a burglar, pit or not! LOL). I wanted to put a little sign that said, "You're right. It's a pitbull. You wanna fucking risk it asshole?" but decided against it. A picture is enough. hehe

So that's it for now. Today's Meg's party at the Laser Tag arena. My mother can't babysit so I'll have to take the baby. I'll get everything set up and then head out. We'll take seperate cars. I'll post pictures later tonight probably.

Last night our neighbors had their house burglarized. They broke in, stole her purse, the cell phones, and the video games. They left the front door propped open and the cat got out. I took Meg to school and found the purse (dumped), one cell phone and the video games down the alley. The $2 in her wallet was gone. $2 is what peace of mind appears to be worth. We found the cat and managed to herd him back inside.

It was definitely kids. The purse was a $200 Coach purse that could have been fenced. They have a rottweiler and any professional casing the house would have never even attempted a robbery (oh, the dog was crated upstairs...she won't be any more).

We're starting a block watch. The Allentown Police Department Captain is calling me this afternoon. Enough.